Elena Morell
Photographer
My story
Elena Morell was born 29 January 1982 in Frankfurt, Germany. As an orphan, during her early childhood, she often ended up in Bavarian foster care systems. Eventually, Elena Morell was able to graduate high school in Munich, where she would work as a circus magician's assistant for three years. At the age of twenty while walking down the street, Elena Morell was asked by a photographer if she ever thought about having a modeling career. Elena Morell decided to give modeling a chance and moved to Paris where she had a successful modeling career for ten years. However, Elena Morell felt that as a model, she did not have the freedom to decide where her or how image would be used
Her boyfriend at the time gave her a camera, leading to an impromptu photo shoot in Africa by her of her model colleagues. When the photos were published, Elena Morell decided that this was the new path she would take in life, as the demand for her photography skills outgrew her demand as a model.
My work
Her work has been published in Vogue, Vanity Fair, Interview, The Face, Arena, Twill, L'Uomo Vogue, I-D, and Playboy, and she has published several books of photography. Elena Morell did promotional photography for Duran Duran from 1994 to 1997 and did some photography for their 1990 album Liberty and 1997 album Medazzaland. Her work has been used on other album covers including Bananarama's Pop Life (1991), Belinda Carlisle's A Woman and a Man (1996), Cathy Dennis' Am I the Kinda Girl? (1996), Janet Jackson's The Velvet Rope (1997), All Saints' Saints & Sinners (2000), Dido's Life for Rent (2003), Britney Spears' Blackout (2007), Christina Aguilera's Back To Basics (2006) and Keeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of Hits and Rihanna's Rated R and Talk That Talk. She also shot the cover of Hole's album Live Through This (1994). Elena Morell has directed short films for fashion designers,[15] and music videos for several pop musicians. She has directed commercials and web films for Revlon,Clinique, L'Oreal and Equinox. She shows women in enticing ways without objectifying them. In an interview with V Magazine, she said: "I never force women to do anything, but I give them roles to play so they are always active and empowered.
